THIS IS HOW TO READ THE BIBLE

I own a Bed & Breakfast.

we get a lot of byciclists

That was God’s plan, because it affords me the time to write like this, where in years past, working the hours that I did, it would have been near impossible to keep up with. Yet now, when I wake up.. I’m already at work! No transit time to & fro. Lol. And when we have no guests, I’m off for the day! (Which can be a mixed blessing, but..) I’m just sayin’, that I’m very much aware of God’s grace in this B&B having come to be.

Well, the upshot is, we buy a lot of soap.

I like patronizing my local stores, and find occasional good deals on organic and natural soaps. Our back up soap is Dr. Bronner’s. It’s in all the pumps by the sinks of the house. Great simple organic stuff¹! Then, for the solid bar soaps for the shower we buy large bars and use a soap cutter to divide them in two. (I mean it would be silly to provide a huge bar of soap for someone who will be here long enough to take 1 or 2 showers.) We have tried suppliers of smaller packaged soaps, but at the end of the day, it works best to just buy big bars and cut them in half.

SO< what’s this got to do with ‘how to study the Bible?’.. Hah! I figured you’d ask that sooner or later.

Just this..

When you cut a bar of soap, you run the risk of the thing breaking, or you doing a poor job and the halves aren’t ‘1/2’ or they’re crooked.. etc. Just this week, when I was cutting soap, I broke a bar making half of it useless, which defeats the purpose.

And just like that.. the Lord spoke to my heart. He said simply ‘Warm up the soap’. I thought - ‘Huh, what an interesting idea!’

So I put a whole bar in the microwave.. He even specified the time - ‘30 seconds.’

Taking the bar out at 30 seconds, it was reasonably warm, but to my surprise the soap cutter slid through it like a hot knife through butter - and I made a perfect cut!

I wondered about the ‘30 second’ advice, so for the next bar, I let it go for a minute. At the minute point the soap was bubbling..

I finally cut through about 10 soaps, all for 30 seconds, and EACH came out perfectly! The moral of this story is, this is how I read the Bible.

When I sit down to study, I have my note book ready because I fully EXPECT to hear the Lord lead me in the Scriptures and share things that I didn’t know.

Call unto me,

and I will answer thee,

and shew thee great and mighty things,

which thou knowest not. Jeremiah 33:3

He will also take me from one place in His Word to another place, shedding considerable light - by connecting the information - or he’ll lead me to ‘rightly divide’ the Word of God. Just like in Luke chapter 4, when Jesus Christ read from Isaiah chapter 61, but did not read the whole thing, but closed the book, sat down and said -

‘This day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears’.

He divided the record, knowing by revelation just what applied to the day he was in. We do need to know what applies to US, and to our DAY. Not everything written is TO us, some things are ‘for our learning’. And some records are talking about what is ‘still future’. It’s the job of the holy spirit to teach the distinction, and ours to listen.

When we read the Bible, we have a ‘teacher’ that should always be consulted. Knowing this FIRST..

‘..No prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.’ II Peter 1:20

To read the Scriptures from an intellectual standpoint, is what carnal men do. They read a lot but learn nothing. As Paul said:

‘But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God:

for they are foolishness unto him:

neither can he know them,

because they are spiritually discerned.’ I Corinthians 2:14

Well, if the things of God are spiritually discerned, that would include His Word. Which explains why for some people it is so hard to understand, and why there is so much division.. people don’t let the teacher tell them what they’re reading.. as in Acts 8

‘Understandest thou what thou readest? 

And he said, How can I, except some man should guide me?’ Acts 8:30,31

When Jesus was on earth HE was the ‘teacher’ of the Scriptures; He was called ‘Rabbi’, which means ‘teacher’. Even the Scribes were astonished by the authority with which he taught from the Scriptures. When he ascended up on high, he sent the holy spirit, which is administered to us in the ‘Baptism of the Holy Spirit’. From the moment we receive that baptism, we are able to hear the spirit speak to us. That is Jesus speaking to us, through the ‘holy spirit’ that he gave us. And it’s electrifying!

I study the Scriptures daily, because I can’t get enough of the things I’m being taught. When I study, he leads me around the Scriptures and shares things I could never have known on my own.

Just like the day I gave birth to my son - I was sitting on the sofa with his dad, waiting to go to the hospital to be induced. I was 42 years old, having my FIRST baby, and he was TWO WEEKS LATE - We were understandably nervous at my needing to be ‘induced’, so we sat on the sofa, prayed, and opened up the Bible..

I was led straight to Isaiah 66:9, a verse I’d never read before. It says:

‘WOULD I LEAD YOU TO CONCEIVE, AND NOT LEAD YOU TO DELIVER?’

Haha. Everything came out just fine. Just like the soap.. perfect.

So to read the Bible, be sure to BE LED of the holy spirit - and he will show you..

AND

‘… wondrous things from out of thy law’. Psalms 119:18

I would like to add 2 important points about how the ‘teacher’ teaches us anything. I’ve talked about this before, but it’s too important to not repeat.

FIRST; Whatever he teaches you will never contradict the Scriptures.

SECOND; Before you can consider anything ‘established doctrine’ and share it with others, look for him to provide 2 or more witnesses to confirm the point. A witness is when he takes you to additional Scriptures that clarify the point, or he leads you to other - even outside - sources that confirm it. (On January 31st, 2018, when the Lord first told me to study the shape of the earth, (I had just been mocking a ‘flat earther’) he gave me 5,000 witnesses to what he showed me. I might never have believed it otherwise.) Do not believe anything, until the Lord proves it.

A dear friend one day asked me, ‘How do you know so much? (about the Bible). The answer is in spending TIME in the Book and being taught. For my part, there is nothing on earth as exciting as being taught by the holy spirit. My prayer is that you get to see what I mean.

1. That has recently skyrocketed in price though. A gallon was $35 last year; Now its FIFTY$!